Parents and campaigners have slammed Poundland for selling realistic-looking knives and meat cleavers as part of a new range of toy weapons.

The budget retailer has brought out the £1 "glow in the dark weapons" in their stores in time for Halloween.

The toys include a realistic looking six-inch long knife as well as a terrifying looking meat cleaver.

It comes after the company was blasted for selling Halloween dagger sets complete with capsules of fake blood.

Outraged parents and anti-knife charities are demanding the toys are removed from shelves.

Patrick Green, of The Ben Kinsella Trust, said: “It is insensitive to the families given the grief that many families have suffered across the country and the lives changed by knife crime.

“These toys are not illegal and they are not breaking any laws but I would ask the store to reconsider their policy on stocking these knives given the epidemic of knife crime across the country in the last three years.

“Families across the country have suffered and anything that normalises the carrying of knifes is doubly unhelpful.

“For the meagre profit they are likely to make I would ask them to reconsider for the all these families.”

Mum-of-three Cheryl Andrews, 34, of Smethwick, Birmingham, was shocked when she found the toys for sale in her local Bearwood branch.

She said: “Knife crime in Birmingham is probably at its worst it’s been for years and you get Poundland glamorising knife crime for children?

“It’s madness. I’m all for kids playing but these knives are so realistic and are even marketed as weapons.

“I saw my three-year-old son holding one and for a moment I thought he’d actually got hold of a real knife.